Eric Andersen Avalanche CD

Eric Andersen, like so many other American folk singers, has long been in the shadow of the immortal Robert Zimmerman. After spending some time in San Francisco in the early 60's Andersen joined the Greenwich Village folk scene in 1964 and cut five reco

Personnel: Eric Andersen (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, piano); Andy Johnson (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, background vocals); Bruce Langhorne (guitar, acoustic guitar, tambourine); Eric Gale (guitar); Jay Dee Maness (steel guitar); Lee Crabtree (piano); Nick Gefroh (drums).
Recording information: Los Angeles, CA; Tennessee.
Arrangers: Paul "Blind Man" Harris; Eric Andersen; Gene Paige; Jerry Goldstein.
AVALANCHE (1968) is not the most prominent record in the canon of folk-rock chameleon Eric Andersen--it did not even make the transfer to CD until 2007. However, this unjustly overlooked record stands as a perfect example of Andersen's unique skill at pouring himself into an extraordinary numbers of the folk world's far-off corners, though never coming off as an insincere dabbler. AVALANCHE opens with the San Francisco-via-Buffalo singer channeling Dylan on "It's Coming and It Won't Be Long," journeys to bluesy psychedelic rock on "Louise," throws in some majestic Beatlesque pop on "So Hard to Fall," and gets silly on the title track.
Avalanche was Andersen's first album for Warner Bros. after a fairly long stint at Vanguard. It was consistent with his prior efforts in that, while it found him operating at a respectable level, it couldn't break him into the upper echelon of singer/songwriters, in terms of either sales or art. It's diverse and diffuse, qualities which neither work strongly for or against him on this particular effort. If he was worried about the constant new Dylan comparisons, he did himself no favors with the opening "It's Comin' and It Won't Be Long," a fair but derivative sounding Dylan-esque cut in both its composition and vocal phrasing. Yet, it's not typical of the record, which largely examines romantic ups and downs -- a timeworn subject of popular music, true -- in intelligent, reflective fashion that admits some humor, and goes into some good-time vaudevillian and country-rock music besides the expected folk-rock-influenced singer/songwriting. Major session dudes Chuck Rainey, Bruce Langhorne, J.D. Maness, Eric Gale, and Lee Crabtree were on hand to provide a professional yet reserved sound. He broached pop territory on "Think About It" and "So Hard to Fall," which really wouldn't have sounded bad on AM radio, female vocals and orchestration included. "(We Were) Foolish Like the Flowers" and the son-lost-to-war lament "For What Was Gained" were more in line with what listeners usually expected from Andersen: gentle, almost fragile, introspective mild folk-rock. ~ Richie Unterberger